


Redemption

by Rogue_Bard



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Force Ghosts, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-09-09 20:54:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8911582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rogue_Bard/pseuds/Rogue_Bard
Summary: Finn get's a visitor in his recovery coma who has some advice for him. Rogue One Spoilers.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This has not been betaed. Let me know if you see anything super egregious.

Finn drifted.

He heard voices, sometimes felt a grip on his hand. Rey, her small hands cool as she held his and spoke excitement laced words that he couldn’t make out. Soft lips against his forehead, and then he no longer hears Rey. Poe remained, his warm, steady presence drawing Finn out of his mental swirl until he could almost, almost hear Poe’s words. Then Finn would fall again, slipping into the dark, held there by flashes of pain.

“You truly amaze me.” The first words he had been able to make out in ages, and Finn couldn’t recognize the voice. He attempted to look around, but it was like moving through running water. A light begins to appear in front of him, out of what looks like mist. As it grows brighter, Finn begins to see the outline of a person. A man, wearing an older style of flight suit, with the insignia of the Old Empire.

“You’re amazing”, the man says again. “It took a truly brave man to show me the way away from the Empire. He believed in me, that I could be brave, that I was worth more than what I had done. And that man only knew the truth because his wife had seen it, in the innocence of their child, who knew to be afraid of the evil she saw around her.”

“But you”, he shook his head in pleased bewilderment, “You had no one. You found a way out yourself, because you found it inside yourself to see the truth of what the First Order was. It’s a hell of thing you’ve done, Finn.”

“Who are you?” Finn asked, trying to concentrate on the figure before him, as his edges started to fade or grow blurry.

“Oh, sorry. I’m Bodhi. Bodhi Rook. I was a pilot, once.” He said with a wry smile. The name seemed to solidify him.

Finn grinned back. “I had to find a pilot. But I’m glad I did.” Saving Poe is the best thing Finn has ever done, better even than helping bring down Starkiller.

“Ah yes,” Bodhi replied. “I’ve seen your friends. They remind me, so much, of people I knew. I hope they would call me their friends. I can never be sure, we had so little time- Protect them, Finn. Your friends will do great things, but they cannot do them without you.”

“Of course I’m going to protect them!” Finn said firmly. “They’re my friends! And I have to. I have- I have so much to make up for, there’s-” He trailed off and looked away, remembering the Order, the drills, the village on Jakku, all of the things that he had helped to enable.

“No.” A presence reached out, like a hand, lifting his chin so that he was looking at Bodhi again. “No.” Bodhi said again, more firmly. “You were a child. You were shown no other way of doing things, and yet you found one on your own. You have nothing to make up for, because you had no choice.”  
Finn looked at Bodhi. Not just at his eyes, but at the uniform he wore. 

***********

Bodhi’s gaze followed Finn’s, and then it was his turn to look away in shame. This young man, this child, had seen through the First Order’s evil in a way that he never had. Bodhi had trucked the Empire’s cargo around the galaxy for years, never once thinking of who might be hurt by his action, or by his inaction.

“You’re right,” Finn said, causing Bodhi to look up from his reflection. “I never had a choice. But you did.” 

And in that moment Finn looked at Bodhi as though he was seeing to the very core of him, seeing his soul through the Force. His voice changed, and he spoke with such conviction that Bodhi knew what he said had the weight of pure, absolute truth. “You chose the Light, Bodhi, no matter how hard it was, no matter that it killed you. If I don’t deserve to be seen as what I was, then neither do you. Because you amaze me. My life with the First Order was terrible, and I never wanted to be a soldier. I had every reason to leave. You had a life outside of the Empire, you were safe and comfortable. If you’d stayed, you might still be alive now. It takes more courage to walk away from a life of comfort. It’s harder to stand up against wrongs that don’t directly affect you. And you did both. You stepped into the Light, Bodhi Rook. You are part of the Rebel Alliance.” 

Bodhi stood there, a small part of his mind marveling that ghosts could cry. With a trembling hand, he reached to his shoulders, to remove his insignia patches. The different texture startled him, and he looked down, before staring open mouthed at Finn, whose smile now shown almost brighter than Bodhi’s own ghostly glow.

Through his tears, Bodhi returned the smile. “You’re going to do just fine, kid. And remember, if you want to talk, you can always find me in the Force.”

As the kid drew away, finally waking up, Bodhi reached up to the insignia patch on his shoulder again, and stroked the Alliance Starbird that now rested there.


End file.
